Power Cable Problem

I recently finished my portable table saw/router table. I “had” to make a false bottom under the router to hide the excess miles of power cables. The DeWalt 618 has a rather long power cable with a “lock” three prong plug to the router motor. The other end is a regular three prong grounded plug. QUESTION: Have any of you seen a “shortie” version of a plug, about the length of the cable DeWalt uses on their “D” handle model? That would be a good length for a permanent mounted router base in a table. Then, since I purchased the DW618PK set with the plunge base also, I could use the long cable with that unit and not have to remove everything in the router table just to get the power plug. If it were not for the lock end of the power cable it would be much more simple. I could simply purchase another cable, but at $27, and being a retiree, that is sort of pricey. SUGGESTIONS?? You can see my portable unit on DonB ’s projects and the second picture shows the false bottom hiding the wires.

8 comments so far

I had a router that had a 8’ cord. When I mounted it in the router table it was a nusence for sure. At long last I cut the cable near the router, installed a male three prong plug and pluged that into the outlet on the router table.Now I had this 7’ router cord and I installed a female three prong plug on the freshly cut end. If I take the router off the table and want to freehand with it I just plug in the short end to the “extention cord” and I still have the 8’ capability.

+2 for Grumpy’s plan. If this was a simple female grounded plug your plan would hold merit. However, the lock feature on the DeWalt makes using the rest of the cut cable a problem. Most routers have a non plug connection at the router and a regular 3-prong plug at the outlet. Your plan would work well with that – or barring that, splicing into another router’s cable with the leftover. I still have the the problem of the lock plug at the router no matter which way I go. And to echo HerbC – be careful. I do not like the idea of splicing a cable. I can add a plug, but it seems as if its an unnecessary electrical risk to splice. (AND I’m not an electrician) Yes, I was on submarines, but as an administrator, not a tech person. Anyway, thanks for responding and for thinking out a solution.HerbC – you’re only a couple of hours away from Gulf Breeze.Grumpy-love your clamp rack. Neat and functional.

Well Don,That was the ‘least expensive’ fix that I could come up with. the ultamate cure is to leave the router dedicated to the table and buy a second router for the hand held work. Soon you will be like me ... I have 4 routers, each is better suited for the task that I bought it for … ya know, you start with a fixed base, then a plunge router then a laminate router and so on.I am not familiar with the DeWalt “lock plug” you are mentioning … next time I’m in town I will visit the tool store and check it out.If you get brave and decide to cut the cord and install new plugs, here in the states, there will be three wires, black, white and green. Green is always ground and goes to the round pin. White will go to the fat blade of the two and that only leaves the black he goes to the skinnier of the two blades. Never never work on a cord that is plugged in. and never never splice a tool cord. use the proper connectors, like male and female grounded plugs.

Hey Grumpy, thanks for the wire lesson – I actually wrote it down. When you see the lock plug you’ll understand my problem. I could buy two plugs, but like I said, $27 is still pricey. I have two bases, one router motor – one plug. Thanks Grumpy.